Two women and their dogs roaming and living in 250 sq feet of rolling space. If our adventures go well, or even if they don‘t, they will at least provide an opportunity to meet many people, to explore America the Beautiful, and to discover our capabilities in unusual circumstances. Or at least that’s our plan. Come join us and let's find out how Our Great RV Escape actually unfolds!

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

So we headed to Stockton purely because a person that works at the Chevy dealership there said they could work on our ABS issue. But, sure enough, when I called the Service Department Monday morning the service manager told me that he was sorry but they are not authorized to work on the P30 Workhorse Chassis. Fabulous!

So I got on the phone and went online and finally found a Chevy dealer in Petaluma who assured me they are authorized to work on Workhorse chassis. So we headed to Petaluma. To make a long story fairly short, they began work Monday afternoon and also found issues with the Air Conditioning. Once we had approval from the Good Sam Extended Service Plan claims department, they ordered the parts. But, parts would not come in until Wednesday morning and so we were in Petaluma with a wounded RV for 2+ days.

We stayed at a bad RV park in Rohnert Park, a few miles from Petaluma. This place was fairly small and very crowded and a lot of people were actually living there in broken down, sad old RV trailers. The cops showed up the second night and we scuttled back into our RV and locked the door. Scary place and not at all recommended, unless you’re bored with life and want to inject some action.

But, we made the best of things anyway. We rented a car and spent all day Tuesday driving along the Northern California coast – from Bodega Bay to Mendocino (the town featured in Murder She Wrote) on US 1 and then back along an inland route. We even drove through a section of Redwoods forest. It was as beautiful as I remembered from when I was stationed at Travis Air Force Base, which is located between San Francisco and Sacramento, back in the late 1980s. Northern California is truly a wonderful area! The dogs came along for the drive and so then we had to spend an hour cleaning the car out so the rental company would not bust us for having pets on board. It was worth it… they had fun also. Check out some photos here.

We returned to the Chevy dealership on Wednesday to have the parts installed. Along with Barley and Sydney, we were hanging out in their Service waiting room, prepared to spend the day reading and catching up on email, etc. But it was not to be: after sweet, people-loving Barley lunged at 4 or 5 other customers and the service manager, he (the service manager) very politely ejected us from the waiting room. For those that have never been there, northern California in early June is cool and even chilly. There we were, sitting outside for hours on some old plastic chairs they rounded up for us - Lynda had on several layers of clothing and a coat and I was under a blanket. And Barley was in deep doodoo - I was not happy with him at all. Oh well, you think you got your dog figured out and then he surprises you. I guess that dear dog is much more protective than I realized.

Anyway, the service guys finished up around 5 PM and the work totaled over $2200. Our share was $665… that extended service plan more than paid for itself! And so, a chunk of money and five days later the brake issue was finally fixed and our RV travels could resume. And not a moment too soon, as far as we were concerned.

We gleefully hit the road, so happy to be mobile again. After driving through miles and miles of pretty farm lands, we are now overnighting at a Walmart in Yuba City, California.